FX’s ‘The Bridge’ Draws 3 Million in Premiere, 4.1 Million for Two Airings

FX is off to a solid start with its drama “The Bridge,” which racked up an overall audience on par with the net’s recent “The Americans.”

Based on preliminary Nielsen data, a little more than 3 million crossed “The Bridge” for its 90-minute premiere (10-11:30 p.m.) and a little over 1 million stayed up late to catch the quickie repeat at 11:30.

FX estimates that the two airings drew a gross average audience of about 4.12 million Wednesday — a bit below the 4.23 million who tuned in for the series premiere of “The Americans” in January, a time of the year when many more people are watching television in primetime.

“The Bridge,” a crime thriller exploring the tensions on the U.S.-Mexico border, skewed older than typical FX fare, and the adults 18-49 viewership for its premiere telecast (1.16 million) was down from the roughly 1.5 million young adults who watched “The Americans.”

FX points out that the same-night audience for the premiere of “The Americans” represented only 32% of the final 10 million total viewers delivered by linear telecasts, VOD and online viewership.

“The Bridge,” a co-production of Shine America and FX Prods., is set in motion by a grisly crime along the border. It stars Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir as detectives and follows their investigation of a serial killer along the Texas-Mexico border.

Fox International Channels is a partner on “The Bridge” and will launch the show globally immediately following the U.S. premiere. “The Bridge” will bow in 122 countries across all continents in 35 languages all at the same time.

Thought the priemere was very good and will continue to watch all the 2013 episodes. Already have the DVR set up to record all new episodes. Big Juan probably isn’t from the region or at least he’d appreciate the significance of bringing all the actual mayhem from across the border and to some degree in the US to light. Dectective Ruiz I feel for you and your procedure!

The writing on this show is horrible. Save yourself the time. It’s writing is lazy, dealing in tired stereotypes and stinking of cheap political propaganda. It’s too bad because the underlying setting and genre held the promise of something new and different.

Hey producers, in the small chance you are paying attention, replace writers before it is too late!